Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Not to sound like a whiney American, but it really just adds into the disorganization of it all. And it's time to vent.

When the famine feed was over, it was noon. The orphanage cook had been making lunch since morning, and it was nearly ready. And since my breakfast consisted of tea and a few biscuits, I was hungry. OK it sounds really lame to talk about being hungry when we just handed out cornmeal and potatoes to support the various nomadic tribes in the area who mainly subsist on roots and the occasional goat, but still, a man's gotta eat. And I was looking forward to the beans and maize that had been stewing all morning.

So, Moses says it's time to go. Since we were supposed to leave hours and hours ago, I feel in my right to ask him "what about lunch". He says we'll eat on the way (not like there's an In-N-Out Burger along the way, mind you). I say, "look the food here is nearly ready, let me just grab a bowl and I'll eat it in the car". "No no, it's OK, we'll stop at a shop and get some food".

Shop??

OK then… he's the chief. Off we go.

We drive for about 10 minutes, and in the middle of freakin' nowhere, very close to the orphanage, is a shop. Really! It's no 7-11, but it's a typical base-supplies (meaning dried beans, rice, maize, soap, etc) shop. He goes in, comes back with a bunch of warm soda's for everyone in the car… and a bag of crackers. Honestly. This is to be my lunch. I'm hot, cranky, and hungry, and have just been denied a proper lunch because we're in a hurry. Which is obviously not my fault. So now I'm pissed.

OK, enough whining. Back to work.

PS – a warm coke in 100 degree heat is still refreshing.

PSS – to make myself feel better about this post, I'll note that the Pokot are used to surviving on a lot less food than we are. And at first I felt bad when Carol would get mad at people for not feeding us, but now I understand why. This is an on-going battle with them, and many more volunteers will follow me out here. If the volunteers aren't fed, they'll stop coming.